Chapter 30: Setting Foot on the Decks of Freya

The halls of Princess Victoria were filled with milling people. Most were just rushing around trying to burn off nervous energy, but I soon overtook Vincent and Todd from my crew. The two men were moving with purpose. Both had frowns on their faces as they made their way to the ship’s teleport center.

“Problem?” I asked them when I caught up to them and could see the frowns more clearly.

Vincent sighed without slowing his walk. “Not a problem, but just a bit of a worry. Will Lisa and Lucy miss me? Both are pregnant, will I get to be there for the births of my first two children? Will I survive and see my children become adults?”

“Almost the same for me,” Todd said. “I’m not too worried about my girls missing me. They almost didn’t want me to leave. It’s funny; before the Average Joes special two years ago Martha and I were headed for a sure divorce. Tracy was a bit of a party girl and kept dragging Martha out for girl’s trips and parties that did not pass the husband test. But now, Martha is completely devoted to my happiness. And I won’t be there to help her continue to recover.”

“It happens,” I said quietly. “I know that I’m going to miss my girls,”

“Its strange to remember you don’t have a male concubine,” Vincent said. “Part of me thinks you should, but Lisa has talked about how your two concubines are willing to coach and counsel all the concubines belonging to your crew. They are beloved by the other concubines.”

“They try,” I said. “Now after weeks of living with our concubines, most of us will be without them for a long time. Freya is supposed to launch within six hours of our boarding.”

“Why so fast?” Todd asked.

“The district is trying to hold the line, and they don’t have enough people or ships to do it the normal way,” I said. “Normally you want to fight a defensive battle through attrition where you allow the enemy to waste their men and material attacking well defended points and stubbornly give ground. But Borneo has no ground they can give, and if they tried to simply defend the Sa’arm would break through. So, we have to be aggressive and try to take away their initiative.”

Both men just looked at me. I could see Todd’s eyes slowly fill with respect. The man nodded as we entered the teleport center to find pandemonium ongoing.

I pushed my way to the center of the room. “Quiet!” I shouted. “Now, if you are here because you are going to board Freya, please move to the left side of the room. Also please find the unit you work with. Gunners, split up into your teams. I expect Jarl, Thane, Aesir and Vanir teams to be identifiable in no more than five minutes. It should not take two.”

“Move it!” Este shouted. “Let’s stop embarrassing the captain and get organized.”

“If you brought a concubine, they should be next to you,” Tilly called out. “Remember they will be staying in the concubine barracks on the ship. It’s the most protected spot.”

“Only the girls get a concubine,” one of the men from the Vanir group muttered. Este moved in front of him as if she had been teleported.

“What?!” my gunner captain shouted. “Are you that petty. Yes, the women can bring a male concubine along, but its for a good reason. Your concubines are pregnant. That means they have the next generation growing within them. They are the future and you want to risk it by bringing them into battle? We might die in our first fight, but should that happen, you have at least two children to carry your memory forward.”

“But,” the man sputtered.

“No butts, unless it’s a hard dick up mine,” Este hissed. “Do you really believe that your concubines won’t remember you or care. You gave them a wondrous opportunity. They have a future out among the stars. They have received medical treatment undreamed of back on Earth. And they will have children who will grow up strong and free. That means a lot to any woman. Now Horace, calm down about the fact that you don’t have your concubine with you and work to ensure you and everyone else on Freya gets to return to them.”

“Is this everyone?” Luther asked as he walked up to stand next to me. “I see all of my damage control teams and their leads. But I don’t recognize everyone else.”

Herb sighed. “All of my people are here. I have a couple like Horace, who are unhappy about the fact that they have to leave their concubines in the pods. Are you sure they will be safe?”

“I spoke with an officer who works for an organization called the Civil Service. I did not look into it after the conversation, but it sounds like his purpose is to ensure the welfare of the colony and all inhabitants including the concubines. He was telling me that regular welfare checks on newer concubines will occur. They might not be happy we aren’t there, but someone will be checking on them,” I replied.

Luther nodded and then turned to the room. “Did you all hear that? There will be welfare checks on your concubines back on Borneo. We don’t need to panic about them being left behind. Now, let’s keep it orderly. We have battles to win.”

“Thanks,” I said quietly as Tilly moved to stand on my left. Her male concubine, Matt was standing next to her wearing a loincloth. He looked around worriedly.

“Are you sure that I’ll be safe?” he asked Tilly. “I mean, I’m not exactly a stud and these men.”

“Won’t touch you without permission,” I said firmly in the now nearly silent room. “And I expect them to treat you with respect. You might not be operating weapons, but you are with us. I do expect you to do what you can to help. Bring meals to those who are working at their stations. Help keep the ship clean.”

“I can do that? I’m not just stuck in whatever place the concubines will be stashed?” Matt asked.

“If I find you having sex outside the barracks, I’ll be extremely unhappy. I’ll also be unhappy if you cause trouble, but you’ll be allowed what freedom is available. If we’re in a jump I don’t mind if you and Tilly just sit and talk, or play games. Heck, I expect the gunners will find a way to create some kind of game tournament for the trip,” I said.

“Thanes will win!” someone shouted from the cluster of Thane gunners.

“No way!” one of the Jarl gunners responded. “You’ll be bowing down and admitting defeat at the end of the tour, Jarls all the way!”

Aesir and Vanir gunners joined in and what had been calm was now interrupted by the four teams happily predicting dominance in whatever games they came up with to play. Luther standing next to me shook his head.

“Nice way to motivate them,” he observed. “Now they aren’t so much worried about the tour, but they are thinking about making it all about a friendly competition between the teams. Hopefully it results in improved performance.”

Este walked over, still obviously worried. “We’re still three gunners short.”

“I spoke with Admiral Himmel about that before the announcement to come here was issued. We have three gunners being teleported over from the planet. They are Harry Bowles, Roger Wight and Amy Dunning,” I said.

The teleport flashed. Four people stepped off the platform and looked around. Este giggled. “Speak of the devil.”

My gunner captain waved. “Gunners, report!” she called out.

Two men and a woman moved quickly to stand in front of Este. They stood in a line with the woman on the left. She offered a sloppy salute with her right hand in a fist against her forehead. “Gunner transfers from Borneo to the ship Freya reporting for duty! Lance Corporal Amy Dunning with Private First Class Harry Bowles and Private First Class Roger Wight!”

The statement finished, but Amy kept her hand up at her forehead. I snapped my hand up. “Welcome to Freya. I am Captain Tanya Walker, commanding the ship. Lieutenant Estefani Avila, is your gunner captain.”

Este nodded to the trio. “I hope you weren’t planning on staying together because we have three different teams that each need one more gunner.”

Amy nodded. “We expected that we’d be split up. Three teams?”

“We actually use four teams, each with ten gunners,” Este said. “Why?”

Amy looked thoughtful. “Well, from what I’ve learned each ship has their own organization, but most use two teams of twenty or three of thirteen with the last gunner being the commander and working as a floater.”

“Four worked for us during simulation training on the way here,” Este said. “Now, I was going to assign one of you to the Aesir team. Amy you can go there. Your team lead is Charles. He can tell you which position you’ll take.”

“We need someone in Aesir three,” Charles said. “You’ll operate as wing-gun with Aesir two.”

Este waved him off and looked at the two men standing in front of her. “The other positions are in Jarl team and Vanir team. Harry you can join Jarl and that leaves Roger with Vanir.”

Amy looked a bit upset. “What about Franklin, my concubine?”

“We haven’t set up an official concubine liaison,” I replied. “He will be safe with the other male concubines once we board. For now, keep him by your side just so he doesn’t accidentally get pushed.”

I looked up and raised my voice. “Everyone, I just remembered that we are going to have the concubines on board. If I hear any reports about a concubine getting pushed out of the way or accidentally getting injured due to someone’s carelessness...”

I allowed my voice to trail off. Tilly and Philip were smiling at me. “Smart,” Philip said. “Their own minds can come up with possible punishments.”

“Allowing anyone to just walk over concubines will be a detriment to morale overall,” I said. “Now, I just hope we can...”

I did not get to finish my thought before a loud chime ended all conversation in the teleport center. “Crew of Freya, we have established a connection with the dock where your ship has just completed all necessary maintenance and resupply. You may start transferring over.”

Immediately, I stepped forward to stand at the entrance to the teleport. “Keep it orderly,” I shouted in command. “I’ll lead as tradition says the Captain is the first to board and the last to disembark. Follow me by task groups. Tracking, Bridge, Damage Control, Engineering and Gunners to finish the boarding.”

I stepped into the portal feeling a faint twisting and then stepping out onto a new deck. The halls of this spacedock were a pale gray and the lights above flickered giving the hall a gloomy atmosphere. An airlock just ahead had a flashing blue light above, indicating where I should head.

I strode forward, heading to the airlock. When I arrived I turned to look back at the teleport station. I could see a line of people exiting and following me towards the teleport. Philip was in the lead, walking backwards to check on his crew.

“Philip,” I called out. “Stay outside and make sure people know to board quickly. The AI units should be able to guide them to the bunks we allocated to each group.”

“Stay outside and work to expedite boarding. Remind the crew the AI will guide them to their bunks, Aye!” Philip said.

I smiled as he repeated my orders back. He had rephrased what I said, but his wording clearly contained the intent. I then turned and boarded Freya.

“Captain arriving,” the AI intoned. “Do you have any new standing orders to issue?”

“Not at this time,” I said. “You should have received a file showing where all the crew will bunk. Please guide them to their bunks and allow them a moment to select one. After that, send them to their battle station.”

“What about your alternate helmsmen,” the AI inquired.

“Send them to the medical station. We’ll have them working there or in damage control once we have time to settle the crew,” I said. “Now can you provide guidance to the captain’s quarters.”

“Follow the blue light,” the AI said as a blue line of light lit up the wall to my right. It headed down the dimly lit passageway. I started to follow it, looking at the walls as I went.

The passage was tight; more than two people would be unable to walk side by side. The dim lighting made it a place no one would want to linger. I just strode through the passage following the blue line of light on the left wall. It led me for several dozen yards before turning to follow a passage leading towards the center of the ship. A short distance down this path I found a door on the right side. The painted surface clearly read, “Commander Tanya Walker, Freya Captain.”

“That’s right, Captain is a title not a rank in the Confederacy Navy. They only give the title to someone who commands a ship. I wonder if the other ship captains are Commanders,” I said as I walked up to the door.